Publisher Stays Mum on Author’s Founding of Scientology

October 28, 2008

Once again, the publisher charged with distributing the fiction works of L. Ron Hubbard has gone out of its way to ignore Hubbard’s signature accomplishment: the founding of the Church of Scientology.

In a release and accompanying promotional video touting a live-action performance of one of Hubbard’s fiction works, Galaxy Press, which sells Hubbard’s fiction under the Golden Age Stories moniker, goes to great lengths to hype Hubbard’s work with the United States Navy and his resume as an explorer. But it never mentions the controversial Church or Hubbard’s legitimate best-seller and Scientology blueprint, Dianetics.

Critics of the Church have argued that such stealthy actions are part of an overall effort to push Hubbard’s work into schools, which any association with Scientology could hinder.

Earlier this month, we noted that Galaxy Press did not mention Scientology or Dianetics in its commercials for the Hubbard fiction line or on its website, even though these are, by far, Hubbard’s most well-known accomplishments.

In a promotional video for the fiction line, Peter Breyer, the company’s senior vice president for administration, specifically mentions her company’s plans to “reach into the educational market… at the middle school, high school level.”

Galaxy Press representatives have not returned any of our calls for comment.

As for the live performance, readers in the Los Angeles area can head to the Scientology’s own Author Services Theater in downtown Hollywood to see a reading of “The Chee-Chalker,” Hubbard’s tale of murder and drunken Indians in Alaska, supposedly drawn from his experiences as a private adventurer and leader of Naval expeditions. For the record, an examination of available military records appears to indicate that Scientology has been lying about just what an awesome Navy-man Hubbard was as a resume boost. Who wants to buy books from (or join the religion of) an undistinguished military washout?